Fresh Tomato Soup
Tomato soup has to be one of my favorite things to enjoy on a cold day with a nice grilled cheese sandwich. It’s just a classic soup that is surprisingly easy to make and incredibly delicious. The key thing for this soup, the most important thing, is to start off with great tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes give this soup a light, fresh taste and make it irresistibly delicious.
This soup comes together in just an hour: you start by skinning the tomatoes, then cooking the main components, then add stock or water, let it cook, and blend. There’s not a lot of active time, making this a super easy recipe to throw together for lunch.
I like to enjoy this soup with some fresh basil and a little bit of heavy cream or sour cream on top, but those are completely optional. This soup is truly good enough to enjoy on its own. It makes for a great lunch if eaten with a sandwich or a salad.
As I just mentioned, one of the most important things in this soup is the quality of the ingredients. Because there are so few of them, the ingredients need to be truly as good as possible. It is vital to use ripe tomatoes for this recipe, as the flavor of them cannot be replicated. They make the soup truly stand out.
You can tell whether a tomato is ripe by feeling it. It should be mostly firm, but starting to go soft. It should be a bright red color, and it should have a faint tomato-esque aroma. If a tomato is green/yellowish/orange, it is likely not ripe.
Another important process of this is skinning the tomatoes, which can easily be done by the process I explain below. Honestly, the most difficult part of this recipe is finding great tomatoes to use.
Ingredients:
- 12 cups water, divided
- 1 cup ice
- 2 cups water/chicken stock/vegetable stock
- 4 large tomatoes, beefsteak or other
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt
- pepper
- 1/4 tsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil, about 12-15 leaves
- 2-3 tbsp heavy cream, optional
- additional basil to garnish
Instructions:
- Start the process for skinning the tomatoes: Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. 8 cups is a recommendation depending on the size of the tomatoes, you need to fill a small pot with enough water that will completely submerge a tomato. On the side, prepare the ice bath by combining the water and ice in a bowl.
- Cut an X on the top of each tomato, being careful to mostly score through the skin. This will help the skin come off the tomato.
- Starting with one tomato, drop it into the boiling water. Let it sit in the pot for about 30-45 seconds, until you see the skin start to peel off where you made the X. A larger tomato will probably take closer to 45 seconds, a smaller one anywhere between 15-30. Then, immediately drop it into the ice bath. The ice bath will stop the cooking. Repeat with the other tomatoes. Remove the tomatoes from the ice bath and peel off the skin with your hands. It should come off very easily. Proceed to roughly chop up the tomatoes
- Prepare the rest of the components by roughly dicing the carrots and onion. In a cast iron, nonstick pan, or in the pot you will make the soup, heat the olive oil, and add the carrots and onion. Cook for a few minutes until the onion begins to turn translucent. Mince the garlic. Add the roughly chopped tomatoes and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. Then, add the basil, salt, and pepper. If you sauteed the vegetables separately, transfer the whole mix to a large pot.
- Pour your water/stock over the cooked vegetables, cover the pot, and let it simmer for 40-45 minutes until everything is cooked through. Using a blender or stick blender, blend the soup (in batches if necessary) until smooth. Optionally, add the cream.
- Serve hot immediately, garnishing with additional cream and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Fresh Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 12 cups water divided
- 1 cup ice
- 2 cups water/stock chicken or vegetable
- 4 tomatoes large, beefsteak or other
- 2 carrots medium
- 1 onion yellow/white
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 1/4 tsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
- 2-3 tbsp heavy cream optional
- additional basil for garnish
Instructions
Skinning the Tomatoes:
- In a small pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. You need enough water to submerge the tomatoes.
- Prepare the ice bath on the side by combining the remaining water and the ice.
- Score the tomatoes by cutting an X shape on the tomato with a knife. Your goal is to go mostly just through the skin, as this will help it peel off later.
- Starting with one tomato, drop it into the boiling water for about 30-45 seconds, until the skin starts to peel away.
- Immediately, transfer it to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Repeat with the other tomatoes.
- Take the tomatoes out of the ice bath and peel the skin off with your hands. It should come off easily. Chop the tomatoes into rough chunks.
For the soup:
- Roughly dice the carrot and onion. In a large pot (in which you will make the soup) or in a separate cast iron/nonstick pan, heat the olive oil.
- Add the roughly diced carrot and onion and cook down for a few minutes until the onion starts to become translucent. Mince the garlic and add it as well as the tomatoes. Cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add the dried and fresh basil, salt, and pepper. Transfer the mix into your large pot if necessary and pour in the water/stock of choice. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook, covered, for about 40-45 minutes.
- Using a blender or immersion blender (stick blender), blend the soup until smooth (in batches if necessary). Optionally, add the cream.
- Serve the soup hot and garnish with additional cream and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Notes
- Macros: 3.6 g fat, 13.1 g carbohydrates, 2 g protein
- See blog post for more detailed instructions, including notes about how to skin the tomatoes, how to find ripe tomatoes, and other tips for enjoying this soup.